PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE present edition of the "Pictorial Sketch Book," it will be seen, contains the beautiful and celebrated poem of Campbell's "Gertrude of Wyoming "—as originally promised. I cannot but regret, however, that owing to circumstances which need not be mentioned here, the engravings prepared at my expense to illustrate it are necessarily omitted. To make amends for this, several additional engravings have been introduced, together with upwards of eighty pages of new matter, which, it is hoped, will somewhat strengthen the gigantic title of the work, (bestowed by the former publisher,) as a "Sketch-Book of Pennsylvania." It is probably due to me to say, that two or three paragraphs were introduced into the first edition, without my knowledge or consent. One of these paragraphs will be found on page 171 of "Off-Hand Sketches," and refers to the Black Creek coal estate in Luzerne county. The insertion of this particular paragraph was, in my opinion, entirely out of place; and I therefore protested against it, the moment it was discovered. It was owing to this 8 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. circumstance, that the proof-sheets were subsequently withheld from me, thereby admitting a series of errors, typographical and otherwise, to go forth uncorrected in the first edition. The publication of the book having subsequently been transferred to Mr. Bromwell,-the present liberal-minded, gentlemanly, and meritorious publisher, he requested me to make the alterations and improvements previously referred to. Although probably not free of errors, we cannot but commend the work, under the auspices of Mr. Bromwell, to the notice of our friends. BOWEN. A WORD BEFORE WE GO. In all parts of Europe the traveller is supplied with Guide-books, detailing, for his special information and satisfaction, the leading features of all objects of interest on his route. There is not an antiquated castle, a battle-field, a mountain, or a river, but has its peculiar points revealed for the entertainment of the stranger, as he rambles along from place to place. No doubt this materially adds to the interest and subsequent value of travel; and probably constitutes one of the paramount attractions of a tour in Europe, since all its incidents are thus permanently impressed on the mind. In the United States no such conveniences exist; and this is probably one reason why foreigners generally misunderstand and misrepresent us -they are not sufficiently informed to give a correct estimate of our resources, peculiarities, and institutions. They hastily pass over our railways and rivers, and, for the want of suitable printed-guides, return as profoundly ignorant of the routes traversed as they were at the startingpoint for seeing is not understanding. In her physical aspect and resources, Pennsylvania is pre-eminently the most interesting State in the Union-yet, for the want of popular descriptions and references, her real character is comparatively obscured from the public view. The most intelligent individual may make the tour from the Delaware to the Ohio by railroad, and yet be unable to identify one-half the towns, or mountains, or streams, or otherwise explain correctly the prominent local characteristics of the route traversed. Thousands of persons, of fortune and leisure, owing to this evil, are intimidated from travelling; while many proceed direct to Europe, before visiting the objects of interest in their own immediate land. It was as much with the hope of converting our time to a useful pur pose, as receiving a reasonable compensation for it, that we undertook to sketch, in a sprightly and popular way, some of the prominent features of our time-honoured Commonwealth. If we have collected together, in tolerable order, a mass of matter that will relieve, to some extent, the fatigue and monotony of travel, our main object has been attained. We may add, that over seventeen hundred dollars have been expended for pictorial illustrations, some of which we can point to as fair specimens of the art. During the particular time we were engaged in the preparation of these pages, however, an unusual activity prevailed among our best wood engravers, in consequence of large orders from the Government,, We were, therefore, in several instances, forced to employ artists of ordinary talent-though, upon the whole, we think the reader will find little to complain of under this head. The matter is, what it purports to be, off-hand, and no particular credit is claimed or expected for it. We have profited from the works of others to a greater extent than we should, had our time been less limited. Our acknowledgments are due to the works of the late Prof. Richardson, and to those of Mr. Day, Mr. Trego, and others, from which the matter not strictly original has been mainly extracted. With these explanations our work is done. E. B. N. B.-It is proper to add, that not having corrected the latter portion of this work as it was passing through the press, some errors appear which would not otherwise have occurred. 1 |